It is a general
believe that through understanding and tolerance of each other’s
culture, we could make the world a better place for everyone. Team
members of the Afro Project organization have been actively involved in
bringing African culture into the German environment. The Afro Project
team organizes a yearly Africa festival in Wuerzburg, Germany that attracts
thousands of people. This year, over 80,000 people from different
nations visited the festival.

The
19th Africa Festival in Wuerzburg started on the 25th
May 2007 with a colourful
parade of Brazilian samba dancers. The rhythmic sounds of the samba
drums sent the joyful message of festivity to the surrounding area
luring more visitors to participate in the festival. The parade denotes
the aim of the festival to illustrate the connection between Africa and Brazil in the context of Black
Atlantic. Meanwhile august guests from German ministries and African
Institutions as well as celebrities from the music world were arriving
to take part in the grand opening ceremony.

At
the opening ceremony, the Africa Festival Awards 2007 was presented to
Ade (Bantu) Odukoya for his relentless efforts in the fight against
discrimination and racism. As part of the opening ceremony, 1000 white
and black balloons were released to symbolise “fight against
discrimination”. The festival continued till the 28th of
May with diverse music artists from Brazil and Africa performing to the
satisfaction of the audience. The program of the festival also included
film shows, discussion panels, clowns and acrobats performances. The
markets offered African artefacts, music instruments, CDs, DVDs and a
variety of African and Brazilian cuisine to the delight of the visitors.
Experienced DJs kept the dance floors of the discos filled all evenings
and till the early mornings in the Havana Club.

1000 balloons
against discrimination

Fight
against Discrimination
andRacism: Different Colours-One
People

Racism
in Germanyis undeniable. Racist
attacks happen daily in different forms both physically and verbally.
Foreigners particularly people of African descend are abused by racists
openly in public places. Africans have been killed on German streets by
German racists. In most cases, witnesses have kept quiet and never
attempted to help the victim or call for help. The 19th Africa
Festival Wuerzburg made a remarkable effort to bring the issue of racism
to the limelight and motivate the public to actively participate in the
fight against racism. As part of the opening ceremony, 1000 balloons, each
attached to a free entry ticket to the festival were released to float.
The tickets carry information about the event and urge the finder to stand
against racism. The finder is also cordially invited to attend the
festival and enjoy a series of cultural attractions. The event marked the
first day of the festival as a day against racism.

A
discussion forum was organized with Afro-Germans including the activist
and music artist Ade (Bantu) Odukoya on the panel. The discussion topic
titled “Foreigners at home - Life as an Afro-German” gave an insight
into the feelings of Afro-Germans in relation to their dual cultural
heritage.

Ade (Bantu) Odukoya is
the recipient of the Africa Festival (Wuerzburg) Award 2007. The award was
presented to Ade by Dr. Stefan Oschmann in recognition of his activities
against racism in Germany. Dr. Oschmann, the
leading founding member of the Africa festival, praised Ade for initiating “Brothers
Keepers”, an organization focused on the fight against discrimination
and racism. In his speech, Ade thanked the organizers of the Africa
Festival and urged the public to actively participate in the fight against
all forms of racial discrimination.

The Millennium
Goals of the United Nations: 2000-2015 – Already Failed at Halftime in
Africa?”

The
Millennium Development Goals were initiated by the UN and adopted in
2000 by the largest gathering of world leaders in history. The aim of
the initiative was to implement a blueprint set to reduce extreme
poverty around the world by 50% before the end of 2015. The Millennium
Development Goals agreed upon by world leaders include:

Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger

Achieve universal primary education

Promote gender equality and empower women

Reduce child mortality

Improve maternal health

Combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases

Ensure environmental sustainability

Develop a global partnership for development

In
a report “Investing
in Development: A Practical Plan to Achieve the Millennium Development
Goals” by a task force of the UN Millennium Project, Africawas identified as the continent with the greatest
need of MDG investments due to the following reasons:

Very high transport costs and small markets

Low-productivity agriculture

Very high disease burden

Ahistory of adverse geopolitics

Very slow diffusions of technology from abroad

Under
the topic “The Millennium
Goals of the United Nations: 2000-2015 – Already Failed at Halftime in
Africa?”
a discussion panel at the Africafestival Wuerzburg
presented views and opinions on the present economic situation of Africaas well as the
development aids politic. There was a heated debate on the issue of
financial aid and the concept of the up-coming G8-conference taking
place at Heiligendamm, Germany(6-8 June 2007).
While a member of the panel would like to stop every form of financial
aid for Africa, another finds financial aid necessary but economic
partnership even more appropriate in supporting development efforts in
African countries. A member of the audience pointed out that the
activities of the Chinese in Africashould be monitored
carefully. According to the speaker, the Chinese could become the new
colonial masters.